Hair-pin.



L. G. BELZ.

HAIR PIN.

APPLICATION rmm NOV. 20. 1911.

1,026,142. Patented May 14, 1912.

F162 1. F152. F'Ia 3- FILE 4 UNITED STAiigiPATEZNT OFFICE.

" LcUIs c. BELZ, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA;

.- HAILRFPINI T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that L LOUIS C. BnLz, a citizen of the United States, and aresident of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia,

5 State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in Hair-Pins, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My' invention has reference to hair pins and consists of certainimprovements fully 'set forth in the following specification and shownin the accompanying drawings which form a part thereof.

, My invention has reference to hair pins of the general characterillustrated in Let- 1 5 ters Patent No. 975,390, granted to me onNovember 15,1910, and whichparticularly embodies a central twisted wirepro; .1 and two outer single strand untwisted prongs, and my presentimprovement is more especiallydirected to certain details ofconstruction thereof, whereby the hair pin is more efficient in use anddevoid. of certain objections more or less inherentto the constructionof the'hair pinof'my aforesaid Letters Patent.

My invention consists of certain constructions in athree pronged hair piwhich are fully described hereinafter inconnec tion with the drawingsandi'speeifi ally defined in the claims. i.

Referring'to the drawings: Figure 1 1s a side elevation of a hair pinembodying my invention made, on a large scale for better illustration ofthe details; Figs. 2 and 3 are elevations of wire strands suitable 1 foremployment in the making of my im'-.

proved hair pin; and Fig. 4: is an elevation of my-improved hair pinwith sinuosities 1n the side prongs.

My invention consists of a three-pronged hair pin formed of a singlestrand of wire bent upon itself and twisted to form the middle prong,and the ends of. the said strand bent back substantially parallel to thetwisted prong to form the side prongs,

and inwhich further the strand portion forming the middle twisted prongis of less cross sectional areathan that of the strand portions formingthe side prongs, the

'50 twisted middle prong having the main part of its length, includingthe point, formed .with a twist of large pitch, and that portion 1 l ofits length adjacent to the branching part where it is extendedinto theside prongs 5 formed of a small pitch providing a strong construction.-at the head of the hair pin.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented May14, 1912.

Application filed November 20, 1911. Serial No. 661,260.

be straight, as indicated in Fig. 1, or with sinuosities 7, as indicatedin Fig. 4. The middle and side prongs are all formed of one continuousmetal strfand. having the general shape indicated in Figs. 2 and 3, thecross section of the wire strand which 1S twisted upon itself toform'the middle prong .3 being materially less in area than the crosssectional area of the side prongs 2, this difference being preferablyabout 2 to 1, so that the middle rong will not be objectionably bulkyand will have reasonable and pro er elasticity. The main length of themid 1e prong, from its end 4 up toward the bend 6, is formed with atwisted construction of great pitch so as to form very slightinclinations in the twisted portions to the direction of the length ofthe prong, whereby the prong will enter the hair with reasonable freedomand without putting any -ob ect1onable friction thereon, such as wouldoccur where the wire strands are tightly twisted upon themselves andwith smaller pitch.- The upper end of the middle prong adjacent to thebends 6, 6, of the sideprongs,

is twisted with a small pitch, as indicated at 5, for the purpose ofmaking a strong union between the two strands thus twisted together, andalso providinga termination of the strands which will enable them to bebent tangentially away from the middle'loo prong and thence downward toform the side prongs, thereby giving to the headof the hair pin asemi-circular form which will not catch upon the hair or provide a notchin which the hair may become entangled. Moreover, this tightly twistedportion 5 of the middle prong being made of portions of the strand whichare of-grcater cross section than thecross section of the portion.

of 'the strand making up the main "part of the middle prong, the crosssectional area of the metal in this part 5 is greater than the the hairpin. is at. the branching point of the prongs,"and

cross sectional area of any other part 01 This is desirable, because itsecondly,rit. provides a twisted portion oi":

' coarser strands adjacent to the head portion which willproduce a morerasping effect upon the hair and'hence act as a lock due to its frictionto hold the hair pin in place after being once fully pushed home.

' Referring to Fig. 2, the strand there shown has the end portions 8 ofthe cross section of the side prongs 2 of the hair pin,

' and has the middle portion 9 reduced to the.

cross section of the strand which is to be embodied in the twistedmiddle prong 3 of the hair pin. The portions 10 of the wire strand shownin Fig. 2 are of a cross sec tional area intermediate tothose of theparts 8 and 9 and which, when twisted together, provide the part 5 ofthe finished hair pin. This strand shown. in Fig. 2 is bent upon itselfin themiddle, and the part 9 thereof twisted with a large pitch to formthe middle, prong 3; thetwo partslO are then twisted together with asmall pitch tav form the part 5 of the middle prong 8. The

remaining parts 8 are then bent outward and downward to form the parts 6and 2 of the hairpin. It is evident that the fine pitch twist 5 may becarrieddown somewhat into the smaller cross section of the strand andlikewise into the larger cross section of the strand, if so desired, butordinarily, it will 'sullice that this line pitch twisted port-ion 5 besubstantiallv confined to the portions 10 of the intermediate crosssectional area.

In the construction of strand shown in I Fig. 3, the reduction in thesame between the parts 8- and 9 is made more gradual as indicated at10*, these tapered portions corre sponding to the portions of reducedarea, indicated at 10 in- Fig. 2. When the strand, Fig. 3, is employedin making the hair pin, it is bentand twisted in the same way as "abovedescribed, and in this case,the part 5 having the small pitch willbemainly composedv of the tapered portions 10;

It is evident that while my invention, n its most perfect form,comprehends the making of the hairpin from the strand of the Some oftheadvantages secured'by my improvements herein set out, are that thetightl twistedportion 5 at the branching points prevents the hairgetting into the twisted portion, also increases the strength thisnbint. also provides a shape at the helping to hold the pin'in place.

union of the parts 6wh'ich approximates a semicircle for the head of thepin, and further acts as a. locking portion on the hair when the hairpin is drivenhome, thereby twisted portion of great pitch, constitutingthe main part of the middle prong of the pin, enables the same to enterthe hair more freely than would be possible'with the twist of fine p tchand further provides a more slender and flexible middle prong.

The hair pin, as a whole, is usually ja- .pannedto give the .necessafinish. Where the prongsnmte there woul be more or less spring action ifthe pitch .was large and such spring action would tend to crack theJapan and thereby providefabra'ding portions which. would catch andbreak the hair,

but by employing the tightly twisted por-,

tion 5 of small pitch and with the tangential 35 portion 6, this dfiiculty is entirely overcome, and a highly efiicient hair pin is produced without any objectionable qualities.

I have described my hair pin inthe form which I have foundmost-satisfactory for. commercial use, and while I'prefer the detailshere shown, they may be modified within the scope of' the appendedclaims without depart ng from the spirit of the invention. I Having nowdescribed-my invention, what ters Patent, is:

l. A hair pin formed of a single strand 1 claim as new and'desire tosecure by Letbent upon itself'and twisted to form amid dle prong and thetwo free ends of the strand bent substantially parallel to the twistedprong to form two sideprongs, and in which further the twisted middleprong is composed partly of a twist of great pitch extending to the-freeendof the prong and partly of a twist of relatively small pitchadjacentto the branching parts connecting with the side prongs. a

2. A hair pin formed of a single strand bentupon itself and twisted toform'a middle prong and. the two free ends of thejstrand bentsubstantially parallel to the twisted prong toform two sideprongs, andin which further the twisted. middle prong is composed partly of a twistof great pitch extending to the freeend of the prong and partly of atwist or" relativelysmall'pitch adjacent to the branching partsconnecting with the side prongs, the cross sectional area ofthe strandforming the twisted part. of. p v great pitch being. smaller than. thecross-" sectional area in any other-part of the. hair pin and the partof the strand formin'g...that' portion of the twisted middle prong ofrelatively small pitch being of substantially uniform but of less crosssectional area than the cross sectional areaof the side prongs and ofgreater cross sectional area'than the cross sectional area oi the strandin the remaining portion of thetwisted middle prong.

The

end portions. of a diameter intermediate of the dialmeters of thecentral and end portions and of greatly less length.

than the length of either of the central or end portions, the said wirebeing bent upon itself to form three prongs and in which the union ofthe three prongs is formed of :1

"twisted portion of fine pitch formed from the portions of intermediatediameter and in which further the portions of largest diameter are benttangentially from the twisted portions in opposite directions to form asubstantially semi-circular head with the central prong extendingradially inward.

In testimony of which invention, I here- 20 unto set my hand.

LOUIS o. BELZ.

lVitnesses R. M. KELLY, E. W. SMITH.

